McCartney has been working with giraffes for 15 years and has overseen the births of 12 calves. On Wednesday she answered some of the questions that people across the country have been asking.

Q: Why hasn’t April had her baby yet?

McCartney: Giraffe pregnancy is similar to human, in that you have to expect something different from every mom.

You can also expect that a first baby, a second baby, a third baby might look a lot different. A lot of first-time moms don’t show as early, but a fifth-time mom may look a little bigger a lot faster.

So, that could be one of the reasons.

Another thing is we're kind of really just estimating when a giraffe gets pregnant. And their gestation range is pretty big — 13 to 15 months.

So there's a lot of play in there. You know, humans can go over their expected due date, they can come a little early — the same can happen in giraffes, but it’s a much bigger range.

The best way for us to decide a giraffe is pregnant is usually when dad giraffe stops showing a lot of romantic interest in mom giraffe. But, we’re not always there to witness the actual deed. So, you’re kind of going on when you think he lost his romantic appeal. So, it’s not always 100 percent sure the exact time she got pregnant.

Q: Do giraffe’s go into labor during the two-month period?

McCartney: It’s really typical in a giraffe that labor, the onset to the finish is very short… As far as going into actual labor, her water breaking, passing the baby — it’s usually a very short period of time.

That’s how Rocket got his name. His mom had a check at 6:30 and was doing nothing, and at 7:30 she was half-way done. He kinda rocketed out.

And that’s pretty typical.

Q: Can you see how far along in her pregnancy a giraffe is with an ultrasound?

McCartney: A giraffe has thick skin, a pretty compact body, it’s a lot harder to find the baby when it’s small. And once it gets big you're not going to see the whole baby because you're dealing with something that’s 6 feet tall all balled up in there, so it can be harder to guess the age of the baby just with an ultrasound.

When you get to the late stages, you do an ultrasound — you’re going to find bone or heartbeat, things like that that tell you there’s a baby in there. But trying to guess the age that way is a lot harder.

Q: Can a giraffe birth be induced by veterinarians?

McCartney: With giraffes, you normally don’t need to. They are very good at doing this. The only time you would have to step in is, there can be cases where the baby might get lodged. But it would be pretty far along. You would see the front legs start to pass and the head would come out, and then labor would stall. And in those cases, you would step in and just physically help pull the baby through the birth canal. But that would be much further along in the labor.

Q: How quickly can giraffes recover after giving birth?

McCartney: You have to remember that in the wild, (giraffes) are a prey animal. So, mom is going to drop that calf out and immediately be ready to be on the move and taking care of (baby) in case hungry lions come along. And baby is going to be up on his feet within half an hour, usually, and ready to go.